Cidade Amorável [?]: negociação da presença de sujeitas trans em um município interiorano do Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze how transvestites and trans women from an inland municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Norte negotiate their presence in the social spaces in which they circulate. This is a qualitative, ethnographic study carried out with nine transvestites and trans women from the state of Rio Grande do Norte. At first, I tried to present the city of Amorável from its socio-demographic aspects, summarizing general characteristics related to its geographical, social and political constitution. In the same way, I aimed to show the place that the bodies of these subjects occupied and circulated in the municipality, understanding the category "place" either as a determination of the geographical spaces themselves, or as a circumscription of social and political spaces/roles. Next, I sought to understand the strategies that confronted the bodies of the subjects with whom I dialogued in this research, the barriers imposed on them and the difficulties they encountered in accessing spaces. Finally, I aimed to discuss the tactics used by the interlocutors to get to and stay in certain places, trying to understand the ways in which they established the presence of their bodies by negotiating their performances in the spaces. Their trajectories revealed different ways of looking at transgender issues in the countryside, showing that these categories are not necessarily trapped in the same little box. Through the negotiations they carried out about their performances, such as using or not using their social name, they circulated among the spaces usually neglected by these bodies. These negotiations do not delegitimize their identities and are therefore understood by them as necessary and possible movements to occupy and circulate their bodies in spaces.